DHS OIG reports cite gaps in vetting and tracking of migrants, OIG and GAO warn of screening shortages
Loading...
Summary
DHS Office of Inspector General and GAO witnesses told the House subcommittee that the department has been unable to consistently track migrants after release, did not fully screen some Afghan evacuees, and that CBP lacks biometric coverage at all land crossing lanes.
Officials from the DHS Office of Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office told the House subcommittee that DHS lacks consistent processes and technologies to track migrants once released from custody, that some Afghan evacuees left military bases without being tracked, and that Customs and Border Protection has gaps in biometric screening at ports of entry.
Erica Lang, DHS assistant inspector general for inspections and evaluations, summarized OIG findings on the 2021 Afghan evacuation and later border operations. “We determined that approximately 11,700 Afghan evacuees independently departed US military bases without assistance from resettlement agencies,” Lang said, and she described a fragmented process for monitoring parole expirations and resolving derogatory records for Afghan parolees. Lang told members that DHS did not designate a single component to monitor parole expiration for individuals.
Kristen Bernard, the DHS OIG deputy inspector for audits, told the committee that DHS components often lacked automated and consistent methods to maintain awareness of people released from custody. She cited missing or invalid addresses and reliance on manual, ad hoc processing for apprehension and detention that hindered tracking. “Until these issues are addressed, DHS will be unable to maintain awareness of all migrants' locations once released from DHS custody,” Bernard said.
Lang also described OIG reviews of cases where CBP released apprehended aliens without resolving inconclusive watch-list matches. In one review, CBP failed to provide information requested by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center that would have confirmed a positive match. Lang attributed that failure to “ineffective practices, poor information sharing within CBP itself, staffing constraints and paper processes.”
Committee members pressed witnesses on whether existing policies and staffing levels supported large surges; witnesses testified they had not seen formal White House limits on inflow and stressed that surges can overwhelm screening and detention capacity. Bernard said biometric screening “are not available at all land border crossing lanes” and that in some high-volume situations CBP may waive screening of some passengers to move traffic through ports.
Members on both sides of the aisle raised concerns about workforce reductions and the impact on mission-critical functions such as cybersecurity and disaster response. Witnesses recommended automation, consistent cross-component processes and targeted hiring and training to restore situational awareness and screening capacity across DHS.
